Laura is the Face in the misty light....

Laura is the face in the misty light
Footsteps that you hear down the hall
The laugh that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall
And you see Laura on a train that is passing through
Those eyes how familiar they seem
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura but she's only a dream

(Above: Lyrics to the song "Laura", written by David Raksin - Johnny Mercer)

Twenty nine years ago today my daughter Laura Elizabeth arrived, making me the proud mother of a beautiful little girl.
She had the biggest blue eyes, and red hair, and she immediately stole her daddy's heart forever.

22 inches long, 7 lb 3 oz...look how tiny here little legs were!

She loved going everywhere in a front pack.

The other thing Laura loved was water.
Going places in the front pack, and splashing around in water.
You now know two life long loves of Laura.

Laura was dedicated to God wearing her great grandfather's baptism gown. As she grew, she continued to be dedicated to God. In fact, her middle name, Elizabeth, means "Dedicated to God."
Now you know three of Laura's life long loves.

Kicking back in a swim suit, looking cool in shade. That's another of Laura's loves.
Now you know four of Laura's life long loves.

Did I mention she was born with big blue eyes?
That's another thing you should know about Laura.
She has the most amazing blue eyes.

Being our first born, she got lots of attention. There's her great grandmother, her grandmother, her aunt, and her dad, all looking at little Laura.
Awww...isn't she just the cutest thing?

Laura is never afraid to try an unusual pose. Chewing on her own foot? Sure, that would make a great photo. Wonder if she can still do that today?

She grew, but still loved to splash in the tub. A bigger tub now.

While other babies lounged around, Laura was always heading off for an adventure.

Sunglasses, sunshine, swimsuit: check! Let's head to the beach!

Before we knew it, she turned one.

Laura loves to dress up and look ultra feminine. But only when she wants to. Especially with cool shoes. Mary Janes, they are fun to clack around in.
Now you know another thing about Laura.

Remember the picture of tiny baby Laura in the front pack?
Eventually (one year later) Laura outgrew the front pack.
Wow.
That was a lot of growing.

She was still the center of attention at Grandma and Grandpa D.'s house.
Pity they never gave her any toys to play with.

Laura has always loved cats. This cat was Grandma's cat.

Does the crossed eyes give you a sense of how much fun it was to be pushed in a baby buggy by Laura?

At age two, Laura jumped off the diving board, and swam the length of the swimming pool.

Also at age two, she got a tricycle and rode it.
Two year olds are not supposed to be able to ride tricycles.
But Laura could.
Her two grandfathers were there as witnesses.

Laura the two year old.

Who still doesn't mind posing for a funny picture!

She still liked to dress in pretty clothes though.

A few months before Laura turned two, she a became a big sister.
Now you know another thing about Laura.
Little brothers are a lot of work.
She had to teach him not to eat grass while wearing a fire helmet.

She had to watch him in the tub so he wouldn't drown.
Laura later became a life guard.
And she was great at it. She even saved lives!
That's another thing Laura loves: helping people and saving lives.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

I'm not sure there is a tree anywhere that Laura can't climb.
Even now.

She still liked to dress in pretty clothes though.

A few months before Laura turned two, she became a big sister.
Now you know another thing about Laura.
Little brothers are a lot of work.
She had to teach her brother not to eat grass while wearing a fire helmet.

She had to watch him in the tub so he wouldn't drown.
Laura later became a life guard.
And she was great at it. She even saved lives!
That's another thing Laura loves: helping people and saving lives.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

I'm not sure there is a tree anywhere that Laura can't climb.
Even now.

Then Laura was three. (And in a very bad mood on her birthday....)

She caught her very first fish. And had a screaming fit when she learned how fish are cleaned.
"Don't hurt my fishy fish!"
Funny, she grew up to enjoy watching surgery on people.
Just not on fish.
She usually has a beta fish as a pet.
I guess she really still likes fish.

Laura still loved her Mary Janes, this time in white, and wearing dresses.

Frieda was her second dog. She's had three dogs in her life: Molly, Freida and Freckles.
Laura is afraid of dogs now.
Now you know another thing about Laura.

Laura wasn't exactly an angel. In fact, she refused to wear the halo during the church Christmas pageant. The only kids without a halo.
She isn't afraid to have her own opinions.
And she never just follows the crowd.
She thinks for herself.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

Drumming was fun, but she only played occasionally. Like when her drummer uncle would let her bang away on his drum kit.
Being noisy is fun.
If you haven't guess yet, let me tell you: Having fun is very, very important to Laura!

And she still loved to splash around in a swim suit.

At age five, she rode a bicycle without training wheels.
Five year olds aren't supposed to be able to do that.
But Laura could.

When Laura turned five, the Strawberry Shortcake doll was in. Strawberry Shortcake smelled like strawberries, and looked a lot like Laura.

And it was still all about the beach and bathing suits.

The first day of kindergarten.
Cross your fingers Laura.
Wear your Care Bear dress, and everything will be OK.

Even with baby teeth gone, Laura still had a great smile and those big blue eyes.

There was rollerskating to learn.

And balance beams.

More teeth to come out.

And hugs to share.
Laura looks like mom some people say.
Others say she looks like her dad.
I say she looks beautifully like herself.

Sometimes she got to wear pig tails.

And she was a wonderful artist.
Even now she draws well.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

Age seven, and she still loves to splash in the tub.
Only now she prefers jacuzzi tubs, with bubble please!

She really doesn't like the color pink.
But that's OK, she could always wear yellow, again, for Easter.

Laura loves to drive. She drives fast too...she has speeding tickets from many states.
She has driven across America a couple of times.
She only has two more state to visit, and she will have been to all fifty states!
And now you know another thing about Laura.

Swimsuit, sunscreen, shades and a hat to make Mom happy is all a girl really needs to be happy.

Puppies are cool. It's dogs that bother Laura.

Riding a motorcycle is cool too. She started out riding with Grandpa Dustin, and rode a Honda to work for one summer.
Will she ever own a big motorcycle?
That's something I don't know about Laura.
I guess we'll have to wait and see.

As Laura got older, she started getting freckles.
That just how it is when you are a red head.
The funny thing is though, each summer her hair would be back to blond again, from swimming in the ocean and pool all day.
You can tell this picture was taken in winter: her hair is red!

Laura has always had long legs. Even as a baby. And especially as a child.

For awhile, in third grade, Laura played the gitar. Grandpa plays the harmonica, and sometimes they could play a duet.

By fourth grade Laura's hair was long, and she was starting to use make up.
(Just kidding! She is dressed for her part in a Christmas play.)

She played Little League for awhile.

Birthday girl, age 8.

And went skimming over the water behind Grandpa's boat.

But she still liked being a girl.
Especially for dress up fun!

Laura's Dad was her soccer coach. Now she prefers to watch the World Cup, and loves owning Soccer shirts from winning teams.

Did I mention she likes to have fun posing?
Either with a funny face....

Or a happy face.

Or a funny happy face.

A fun picture pose is one of Laura's favorite things.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

She likes to entertain.
Throwing a party with friends over for food and games is something she is great at.
You should be so lucky to be invited to one of Laura's parties!

Fifth grade came really fast.

She was growing up.

She graduated from fifth grade...

She even learned to surf alone..surfing is a VERY important part of Laura's life.

Her daddy took her out surfing when she was just a wee kid. Later, she even went to her Senior Prom riding in a chauffered Woodie, in true surfer girl style!

Started middle school

It's hard to imagine...this is the exact same spot where 13 years before she had been pictured riding on her daddy's chest in a front pack.

At age 12 she looked like this.
Not too crazy about the pink.
But she needed something to wear to Sixth Grade graduation.
Two big graduations-fifth and sixth.
On her sixth grade graduation, she received the sapphire ring her grandmother and mother had received on their sixth grade graduation day.
You can just see it on her finger in this picture.

She turned 13...we had a teen age daughter!

The first day of eighth grade Laura looked like this picture above.

On the last day of eight grade she looked like this.
The beautiful baby who was a beautiful girl was now a beautiful young woman.

Graduation from eight grade.

The sophisticated lady witha bandaid on her knee.
Riding bikes a little too fast if I recall.

Then it was off to Indian Hills, to work as support staff at a Christian campground.
It seemed only natural that Laura would work as a clown.
Her daddy still loves giving her kisses.
I think this was taken on her birthday.
How much she has grown since that first tummy kiss!

Now on to the high school years!
Laura learned to ski and snowboard.
She also worked, a lot.
She worked as a florist, and as a Candy Striper.
And swam on the high school swim team and played water polo.

All that swimming...all those swim suits....what a surprise that she lettered in Swimming and Water Polo!
And now you know another four or five things about Laura.

She still loved to dress in pretty dresses. And cute shoes.
Just not Mary Janes anymore.

And blink...she was graduating from high school.

The little girl with her fingers crossed on the first day of kindergarten did alright.

She still liked wearing shades.

And she still liked going places. A luggage trolley at the airport curb is a favorite form of transportation; it means she's heading somewhere fun again!

She started college, and swim suits and shades still feel right when she isn't actually in class....

Even a busy college girl has time for Christmas with mom and grandma. Only now she doesn't have to be dressed in those silly Christmas outfits that her mom used to always made her wear.

At age 20 Laura moved to from her native San Diego to Texas to attend University of Texas at Arlington, to get her BS RN degree. It was hard for a third generation San Diego girl to move that far from the beach.
She worked as a florist and in surgeries, setting up surgeries and handing tools to the doctors while she studied.
For fun she played with a red headed cat.

Melvil and Laura, the red headed Texas team.

She is still a big sister, only little brother is now bigger than she is.

Nurse Laura, BS RN. With her own apartment and everything, working in an intensive care unit.
And still loves to dress up.
And sometimes even wear a hat and a PINK dress at Easter.

Posing is still fun.

I am so lucky. Laura is my daughter and my best friend.

We don't get to spend a lot of time together now, because she is a traveling nurse. She has worked in oncology units in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Hawaii (where she got kissy face with the tiki gods), and right now she is in Denver.

Working in Hawaii meant more time surfing and swimming.
And family visits.
Here in Hawaii with Grandma S.

And here in Hawaii with her Daddy.
A family that (temporarily) tatoos together, stays together.
Or something like that.

Laura still loves to go places. She's gone to Mexico, the Carribean, Alaska, Canada, Ireland and Scotland on vacations.
When she went to Scotland she asked her grandma S. and me to come along too.
That's us, up in the Highlands of Scotland.

If you are not licensed, you may not go behind the bar in Scotland to pull a pint.
Unless you are Laura, of course.

The swans of Scotland seemed to like Laura. And for a moment, Laura looked like she was becoming a swan too.

Yes, Laura has fun where ever she goes.

Sometimes she bends the rules along the way.
But never in a really bad way.

She fit right into to Ireland.

And she still loves to be with her Grandma D.

Skiing is still fun with Dad and little brother.
But she'd still rather snowboard.

She's been a bridesmaid at least five time.

And she still loves to get into a jacuzzi.

They haven't played a duet in a while, or gone motorcyling, but they still enjoy a good laugh together from time to time.

The blue eyed baby girl is quite an amazing woman now.

It's been a blessing to have you as a daughter, a friend and yes, even my nurse.
I love traveling with you, drawing and shooting pictures with you, writing with you, and shopping with you.

You make me laugh, and are a wonder to behold as you continue to grow and explore your world.

What a daughter!

Happy Birthday Laura!

Now that you have learned a few things about Laura, perhaps now you will enjoy hearing her theme song.

Her song "Laura" is a classic song, from the movie of the same title.
The words were at the beginning of this post.

Here they are again:

Laura is the face in the misty light
Footsteps that you hear down the hall
The laugh that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall
And you see Laura on a train that is passing through
Those eyes how familiar they seem
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura but she's only a dream

The song was most famously sung by Frank Sintra.

Occasionally when people met Laura, they sing the song to her.
She has a favorite version of the song that you can hear played here.
Be sure to listen to it to the very end.

Maybe one day she will dance to it at her wedding.
It will be so like her, I'm sure everyone will cry with joy.
Or something like that.

You can wish her a Happy Birthday over at her blog, called "It's Good To Be Me"
There you can see what else this traveling oncology nurse is up to.
I know she hopes she will never need to meet you professionally.
But I know she'd love to meet you as a friend.

Once a Bluebird, always a Bluebird

Last Christmas my mom sent me four coffee mugs. each decorated with a different wild bird-a cardinal, chickadee, goldfinch, and a bluebird.

It wasn't that we didn't already have coffee mugs, in fact I tend to buy a coffee mug each time we go on a memorable vacation to serve later as a memory jogger. It's a great way to start the day: Memories of Hawaii, Alaska, whatever.
I also collect mugs from the colleges and universities that we have attended. And we have mugs from various companies that have soaked up our lives in return for paychecks.
Ah, the fond memories of the Enron days which are stirred every time someone grabs a cup of coffee in the mug with the crooked E.

Somehow last Christmas there just wasn't enough room in the cup cupboard for the bird mugs, so they got *temporarily* parked next to the coffeemaker.
Seven months later, and the birds are still perched on the counter.

It is easier to just grab a mug off the counter, and easier is becoming a favorite thing with me lately.

But I rarely leave anything at easy; instead each morning I take a second to decide which bird suits my mood.

This morning I first grabbed the mug with the yellow finch.
And put it back.
Then I grabbed the chickadee mug.
But the chickadee seemed too energetic to me.
I had been up late reading well past midnight.
The red cardinal was out, because, well, it was just too red today.

All along I had kind of wanted to go with the bluebird.
It is such a nice friendly and undemanding bird.
As I gave into my first impulse, my brain chirped up with a little tune, the word of which went like this:

To have fun.
To learn to make beautiful things.
To remember to finish what I begin.
To learn to keep my temper in.
And to learn about nature and living outdoors.
To have adventures with all sorts of things.
And make friends.

Actually I could only remember the first four lines and the last line.

Ah, I thought, the Campfire Girl Pledge!
My brain dutifully corrected me.

It was NOT the Camp Fire Girl Pledge.

The Camp Fire Girl pledge goes like this:

"Worship God (humm hummhum...) (the humming was like an echo to the worship God part.)
Seek Beauty
Give Service
And Knowledge pursue
Be trustworthy ever in all that you do
Hold fast onto health and your work glorify;
And you will be happy in the Law of Camp Fire!

The song that began with "To have fun.." was the BLUE BIRD pledge.

I had to sit down with my cup of coffee and think about this for a moment.
I had been a Blue Bird, a Camp Fire Girl, and a Junior High Camp Fire Girl.
In fact, I had earned the equivalent to an Eagle Scout badge in JHCFG.

I had proudly worn all the Camp Fire Girl related costumes.
(Note that the outfits were called "costumes" and not the guy sounding "uniforms" that the brown and green girl groups wore, much to our disgust. They also "marched" in parades like guys, while we "Girls" always rode in convertibles. Or at least that how we did it while I was growing up in La Jolla!)

Even the only picture that I could find of Camp Fire Girls and Blue Birds in Google images, showed the girls decidedly NOT marching!

Love the gloves too! We never had gloves, mores the pity. I guess you can't have everything.
Anyway, back to being a Blue Bird.

We wore cute little blue caps with short bills, (just like bluebirds have short bills, get it?), and red vest with little points in front, like a weskit. A short sleeved white blouse, and navy skirt, and white socks with pale blue bluebirds on the cuffs, that always stretched out and looked deformed after the first wearing if the socks were cotton.

Mine always were cotton, more healthy for feet, along with saddle shoes.
Some girls got to wear the neat fitting nylon socks with canvas tennis shoes. They looked a tad fast to me, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I digress.

The point is, my life was greatly shaped by those two pledges.
I have always been very serious about worshipping God, seeking beauty, serving, pursuing knowledge (that's what we librarians do best you know..) being trustworthy in everything, choosing a healthy lifestyle, and always giving work my very best.

As I drank my coffee, my mind travelled back to my Blue Bird years, the few years of first and second grade. My leader was Mrs. Snodgrass, who lived with her daughter Becky, a son and a husband in a huge house that was firmly in the grips of remodeling hell. My memories paints pictures of boxes everywhere, piles of stuff in between the boxes, old drapery being used as temporary walls, and a kitchen that didn't have much counter top. Sort of dingy too...the way big older rambling houses look when no one is trying very hard to keep it neat.

In the midst of this remodeling, Mrs. Snodgrass volunteered to take a group of us on to become Blue Birds. Each week we would arrive, and she would teach us about wild flower identification. We would roam the hills above La Jolla gathering specimens, and then carefully put them into flower presses, and then glued them onto large heavy paper pages, and neatly labeling the flowers. I had my book for years; the pages were held together with what I think were shoe laces strung through the two holes punched in the tagboard covers.

I still remember the thrill of finding a Shooting Star in bloom, and how cute Owl's Clover was, with a tiny owl face in each blossom.

Mrs. Snodgrass also had us create doll houses using cardboard boxes and scraps of wallpaper. I learned how to wall paper from her, using the icky wheat paste with the distinctive scent that I can remember to this very day.

We covered smaller boxes with fabric for furniture, and created dolls using pipe cleaners and crepe paper, trimming the doll's dresses with the exciting sequins and glitter.

Glitter was always a good thing.

Mrs. Snodgrass, in my memories, always wore large khaki shorts, and her greying hair was wildly unstyled. Her walking shoes were sensible, and I don't recall a trace of make up on her face. Her husband, who I believe was a scientist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, would often meander into our meetings, nodding at us in the vague way that scientists always do, and it all seemed rather business as usual, the business being having fun.

"To have fun...."

"To learn to make beautiful things."

"To remember to finish what I begin."

"To want to keep my temper in"

"To learn about nature, and living outdoors."

"To have adventures with all sorts of things"

(Oh how I adore an opportunity for an adventure!)

"And make friends."

I think I have done very well keeping my Camp Fire Girl pledge these past forty plus years. I remember when we "flew up" from Blue Birds to Camp Fire Girls.

But you know something?

I'm ready to return to the nest.

I want to be a Blue Bird again.

I'm going to print out the Blue Bird Pledge and put it up on the refrigerator.

I'm going to make a copy for my bathroom mirror.

And I'm going to tuck a copy into the my purse.

I am going to make a pledge to keep the Blue Bird pledge, and start being a Blue Bird again.

Anyone out there want to join me?

Come on...it will be an adventure!

PS: I found another Blue Bird! She shows the handbook here on Two Straight Lines, and has also taken the pledge. Hurray!

Sew there!

I just HATE to give up.
Even when it is time to just cut my loses, I still hang in there, fighting to salvage something of an "in for a penny, in for a pound" situation.

The four yards of blue cotton gingham that I had sewn into a potato sack shaped dress was draped over the back of a chair this morning, just snickering at me.
I HAD to do something.
I just couldn't let it beat me.

Using the basic pieces that I had sewn to (almost) make the above dress, I took the skirt off the top, split the top in the front, whipped up an apron and TA DA! I now had spent almost six hours more of my time to make this fetching costume:

Would anyone care to join me for tea?

I just love these cute little buttons!

I know, you aren't supposed to sew a button on without actually making a button hole, but I was going for concept, not perfection.

No pattern, just my imagination.
It was my own little version of Project Runway!
Sans glam!

Oh come on..stop laughing. I think it turned out kinda cute...kind of 1910sh.
Just because it make me look as big as a house is no reason not to love it.

The best part of the whole adventure was having Bernie around to keep me in stitches.
He really does loathe gingham.
When he first wandered in to my sewing room to see what I was up to I knew exactly what he was going to say:

"Ugh, it looks like something a prairie settler would wear."

Which is funny because prairie women all wore corsets. I think he is thinking of the blue gingham dress that the character Laurie wore in the movie "Oklahoma!"

Then he remarked the (again) how much he dislikes gingham.
I was pretty sure that if Iasked, he would say because it reminded him of the shapeless old Mormon women of his childhood, who sewed poorly constructed garments out of the cheap gingham fabrics.

So I asked.

Surprise, surprise, that was exactly why he dislikes gingham.
Seems like a reasonable reason to dislike the stuff.

Just for fun, I asked him how he would feel about me adding some rickrack to the top.

Shaving my head, rickrack and my getting a sex change operation all have equal appeal to Bernie.
Which is to say AAAGGGGhhhhhhh....NOOOOOOOOO!

I promised I wouldn't add rickrack.
At that point he spouted off with a great little encouraging routine that had me laughing hysterically:

"Oh no, go right ahead. Add rickrack, add some lace, add some ribbons, add some buttons, LOTS of button, add some veiling, add all that sh--- (he used a naughty word here), it will look great! More sh--, that's the ticket!

(I'm still laughing...left to my own devises and with unlimited time and money, I will keep adding sh-- to hats, cats, dresses, ANYTHING that hesitates for a split second. I have really done a great job reining that impulse in, and it only peeks out from time to time. And my eyes roll when I see women who have never said no to an additional do dad or lace scrap on a sweatshirt or toilet seat cover. I'm sure you know the type.)

Well, it wasn't a total waste of a day. I love tea parties, and now I have a cute little summer tea party dress.
(Somebody, quick, ask me over for a 1910 tea party!)

And actually the top is going to be a something I will be wearing.

I've been looking for a way to make a light cover up for my sleeveless dresses and tank tops, in a fast design that I can whip in in nothing flat. The top part of the One Hour Dress pattern will work, either sewn shut or left open.
I'll probably make the sleeves a little tighter next time.
So the day was not a complete loss.

I did not quit, and I think I actually won.

(Over fifty knees showing..take that Ellen!)

Hi Jeff! Hi Laura! Bring someone home you'd like to marry really soon! I'll serve tea and we can all get to know each other!

It'll be fun!

(I am laughing so hard I am crying...Jeff, Laura, I'm kidding, really! I promise! Don't call the home quite yet!)

Sew sorry....

The other day my Hat Net buddy Marie sent me a link to a class that was being taught out in California. The class was going to be on making the "One Hour Dress Pattern" from 1924.

Naturally I scoured the web trying to find said pattern, and with hardly any effort at all, I found the pattern available for download.

Isn't it just adorable?

The following page had a certification of an event where the one hour dress was once sewed in public in 34 minutes!
Wow!!!
The finished dress apparently looked like the black and white drawing of the dress as modeled by Mary Brooks Pickens, of Women's Institute fame.
Pickens wrote lots and lots of books on sewing in the early decades of the 1900's. Her books are collector items now. Her designs are always designs that are self drafted; you measure yourself and plot the lines and cut accordingly.

I loved how cool and fresh Mary looked in the One Hour Dress. There were loads of variations as well, different sleeve finishes, skirt finishes (pleats, tucks etc.)

The pattern called for 3 1/4 yards of fabric.
Obviously the thing to do was to find some fabric that was very inexpensive, in order to make a test run at the design. The trick would be finding a fabric that I liked well enough that if the dress turned out well I would actually want to wear it, yet cheap enough that if it didn't turn out well I wouldn't mind disgarding the experiment.

Knowing that Walmart has fabric for $2 a yard, I decided I would give it a try.
Now buying fabric is tricky for me.

I happen to be related to people with strong opinions about fabric designs.
For instance, no one in my family likes polka dots.
(I think polka dots are fun, but it takes a degree of silliness to really pull them off. My family doesn't do silly, we do dry humor, sarcastic humor, and snarky humor. The cats do silly. But they refuse to wear polka dots, being boy cats and all)
So polka dots are out.

I love gingham. It just draws me, it is always so fresh looking and cool.
Bernie strongly dislikes gingham anything.
Go figure.
I have to admit, gingham on any one over the age of six does look a tad juvenile.
(More about that issue later.)

Now Bernie does like stripes.
I don't, except on him, but I am trying to cultivate an appreciation of striped shirts.
This pattern said it could not be made with striped fabric, or one way designs.
I'm not sure why the stripes wouldn't work, but whatever.

Daughter Laura dislikes any abstract all over design.
She inevitably says the design looks like a medical slide of some hideous disease.
It is hard to want to wear a fabric once someone has said it looks like a blood slide example of a communicable disease.

We all like floral, provided they are not too big, or too small, or too fussy, or too old lady, or too childish.
And especially if the floral doesn't look like upholstery or drapery chintz.
Which is pretty much the only kind of floral out there.
Someday, I hope to find a floral that hasn't already been used as a bedspread in a department store ad.

I personally love plaid.
Just not in summer.
And not if I am feeling fat.
Which I do right not.

So if you skip polka dot, gingham, stripe, floral, abstracts and plaid, that pretty much leaves you with plain solid colors.

The pattern came with several pages of styles from 1924. Apparently in 1924 everyone had a figure like a skinny snake.
No hips, no bosoms.
A perfect 34-34-34 I guess.
Awhile ago on Dressaday there was an essay on body types.
The perfect 34-34-34 is called a cylinder or tube shape. Flat fanny, flat chest.
And the One Hour Dress is just the dress for them

Me...well, one part of me is 34 if I have had lunch. I have what the essay called an hour glass shape. An hour glass figure has at least a ten inch difference between waist and hip, and waist and bust.

Think 1950's style with full skirts, and belted waist, and that's me.

An Hour glass, wearing a tube style takes on the contours of a brick.
Ick.

But...the picture of the girl with the umbrella!
The hat!
The fabric floating in the breeze!
ONE HOUR OF SEWING!!!

As I drove away from my house on my way to Wal Mart, my common sense dryly noted:
"You know this is never going to work on you."

I told my common sense to stay out of it.

Walmart shopping only took one hour.
(I did get three compliments of my Sally Victor panama straw hat...so it wasn't a total waste of time.)
I avoided the true gingham, and went with a light blue cotton gingham like print at $2 a yard. I got four yards, so I could whip up a hat to match.

And I got thread, bias tape, and cute little white buttons with blue stars impressed that matched the fabric.

Door to door, I spent two hours getting fabric.
I washed the fabric, and at 3 pm started to work.
At six pm I stopped.
I think I should have just cut a hole in the middle of the fabric and pulled it over my head and declared it done.
It looked like a poncho that went down to my ankles.
The directions were crystal clear right up to when it said to tack the side cascade to the back.
(That's the little ruffle on the side.)

I for the life of me can not figure out how that could be done.
Near as I can figure, the dress has no seams on the sides. Just a panel in the front,and a panel in the back, and the back panel extends under the front panel and is tacked to the waist band, sort of like a wrap skirt.

Maybe in 1924 walking was different than now.
All I can say is if I ever want a light blue ginghamish poncho to wear and want to flash my thighs, this is the dress to wear.
And NO, I am not posting a picture of me in it.

Sigh.

Every summer I come across a new "Quick and Easy" pattern modeled on a starved person, and I think "Maybe it will work."
It never does.

Last summer I made the pillow case dress, the one where basically you make a tube and run cording around the top hem and the cording becomes the shoulder straps.
On me it looked like a poverty picture: the guy wearing a barrel with ropes over his shoulders to hold the barrel up.
Not a pretty look.

I am still looking for an easy summer dress pattern with sleeves. I have perfected a fitted top sundress with straps and full skirt, but I always have to drag a sweater along for upper arm coverage and air conditioning defense.

I noticed Erin over at Dressaday is a huge fan of the Duro, the style pictured in the pattern below. She says it is an easy two hour project.
I decided I would give that a whirl next.

Kimono sleeves and I don't usually get along...so it is an iffy project on that count.

Erin loves to mix and match fabric wildly on her duros.
I'm just not brave enough to do that.

The problem with summer wear is that it needs to be cotton, and NOT lined with polyester.
Around here you can get all the cotton and linen sheath dress and even 50's style dresses you want, but they all are completely lined in man made fiber.
One trip across a parking lot when it is 94 degrees out with 94% humidity wearing a polyester lining? Instant heat stroke.

That's why I like to make my own dresses, so I can line them with a batiste or light cotton.
Plus my torso is a full three inches longer than standard, so store bought dresses always are waist banded around my lowest rib, rather than beneath it.
Not a comfortable design element to say the least. (Tug, tug...)

The other problem with summer wear is that I just fall in love with summer designs that are not polka dot, gingham, stripes, plaid, floral or abstract.

I fall in love with fabric like this:

Every time I look at that fabric I feel happy, and young.
The room feels cooler, and it feels like something fun is just about to happen.

I started cutting out the apple fabric for duro last night starting at 7.
And at 7:30 discovered I was 1/4 yard short.

While I took an aggravation break, I talked with Laura, who shared with me an article she had found in O magazine, which included an interview with the over 50 actress Ellen Barkin (of Ocean's 13 fame.)
Ellen was asked for tips on fashions for the over 50 set.
Some of the tips I approved of: NO strapless, cover the knees in skirts.
Then she said don't wear hats, as they look like you are trying to draw attention to yourself.

(Right. Why don't we just wear burqas then. Wouldn't that be much better? If everyone would just "get it" like they do in the horrible Middle Eastern countries, then that problem of being "noticed" will be solved forever. Especially if we wear that face covering too!)

Laura and I talked about growing up and growing older; she is turning 29 this coming Sunday.

Growing up and growing older is challenging at any age.

Older and wiser is good. It's the rest of it that is hard.

After that call I realized I was irritated with myself for being so ridiculous as to think I could make the one hour dress work.
I was annoyed that the Duro fabric layout didn't work, and I can only hope Jo Ann fabrics still carries the apple fabric I bought last August.

And I was depressed to realize that even at age 53, part of me still wants to wear gingham, and dotted Swiss, and eyelet, and fabric with whimsical prints of apples and alphabets and cats and things like that.

Even though I have eye crossingly expensive pantsuits and skirt suits in charcoal, blue grey, dark brown, deep navy, beige and black, and skirts and pants in those same subdued colors, and tasteful sweaters and blouses of solid neutral shades, all of which I enliven with expensive silk scarves, deep inside I want to wear a dress the fluffs out in the breeze, with a wide ribbon tied in a bow, and maybe even a parasol.

I know that as I age I should dress in more and more subdued classic styles, and that making a dress with aqua cotton fabric with green apples dancing about is really just going to make me look rediculous.

It's just that I inside I still feel young.
I still imagine myself as a young girl, with a cylinder shaped body, and a happy attachment to clear bright colors.
I'm not worried about people noticing me.
I'm five feet nine inches tall...people have ALWAYS noticed me.

(And believe me, having people say "Boy, you sure are tall, how tall are you? does not feel like a compliment. It feels like they are wondering why you are such a freak. I have bit my lip more than once to avoid saying "Boy you sure are short, how short are you?
I happen to know that would be considered rude. I'm not sure why asking how tall I am isn't likewise considered equally rude, but it apparently isn't because Laura and I get asked that all the time. Which is probably one reason I started to wear a hat, just to change the subject a bit.)

I'm not sure how to end this post.
On the way to work tonight I will be trying to get enough fabric of the apple fabric to finish cutting out the dress. If the dress shape works on my figure, I will wear it around the house, and will enjoy wearing it while sipping ice tea or mojitos on the patio in the evenings with Bernie, who has enough sense to notice and tell me I look nice when I am happy.

And helps me to remember that sometimes it's still OK to be a little girl at heart.

Update: Joanne's was out of the fabric. If you are near a Joanne's fabric store and see the fabric, would you let me know?

Millinery: Five Hats in One Day: Finish

Making hats is a lot of fun; but hats need to be worn to fulfill their purpose.
As one person observed, the best tip about how to wear a hat is quite simple:

First, you just have to wear them.

So here I am, wearing my hats that I created all on one day.

I've heard women say they feel like they can only wear a hat when they are wearing a dress, or going out to tea, or a wedding or some other la dee dah event.

What nonsense!

Hats look great with simple outfits; what could be simpler than a white shirt, beige slacks, a belt and a pair shoes? Wouldn't this be perfect outfit to run to the garden center, to the post office, and to stop by the pharmacy to pick up a prescription? I thought it was, so that's what I did the first time I wore it.

Oh, and it is also the perfect hat to wear while attempting to tame patio lions.

See picture below:

I'll confess, I have yet to wear this hat (above) in public, only because the veil is fragile. I would need to wear my contact lenses when I wear the hat so my glasses will not accidentally catch and tear the veil.

Since, alas, my contact lenses do not address my need for reading glasses, I won't be wearing this hat until I find a place where I will not need to read anything.

Oh what the heck...maybe I can just skip reading the bulletin and hymns at church just once.

I know most of the songs by heart anyway, and if need be, I could always just hum.

I'll have to think about this for a while.

I think this is a tad more dressy hat. It would be perfect for church, luncheons, bridal showers, and other social events. I'd feel comfortable wearing it with either a tailored pant suit or a lacy blouse.

Another pant suit suitable hat, or tailored skirt/dress. I wore it to work with a beige skirt, red top and navy wrap. I think the style is almost too young for me though, and think it would look better on someone with shorter hair and bangs.

Love this hat with a tailored pant suit. The ruffled wave design takes the serious edge off a black suit. Since the hat rests just on the top of the head, I can pull my hair back in a pony tail, or bun when I wear it on a hot day; that's a real bonus here in Houston.

I wore this black hat with the bright orange top that I bought in Switzerland, (with a black tank top under the top for a more modest look) and my black crop pants when I went to the grocery store the other day.
It was a pretty simple outfit really.
As I was strolled along, pushing a shopping cart and studying my shopping list, the butcher called out to me across the store:

"I love your chapeau!"

I wish I could have had a video of how everyone in the store froze, and turned to look at me, the men nodding in agreement, and the women with their pricey high heel sandals and full blown teased blond hair looking completely puzzled as to what this compliment meant.

I had never spoken to the butcher before, but I promptly thanked him for his compliment.
(In Southern style of course: "Why thank you! Aren't you just the sweetest thing to say so!"
Around here, compliments always require a return compliment. Isn't that a precious custom?)

The butcher then started telling me about his 52 year old wife who also wears hats, and how beautiful she looks in hats, and how much he enjoys seeing women wearing hats like his wife does.

What a pleasure it was to hear a man praise his wife!

The conversation lasted perhaps a minute, probably less, but both of us were smiling as I rolled on to finish my grocery shopping.

During that short conversation I could could see women listening in with their mouths hanging open in surprise. I know I would win if I bet that none of the women shopping that day had had a man pay them a compliment on their looks in a decade, and certainly not in earshot of other women!

OK, I know that sounds kind of like I'm blowing my own horn here.
But really, it is about the hat, not me.

I've gone shopping at that store lots of times, dressed nicely and neatly, and perhaps even dressier, and never had anyone compliment me, or even smile.

That day, everyone smiled as I went about my shopping, nodding, touching their head and mouthing "I like your hat!"
Each time I was able to say "Thank you!' and share a smile with them.

I like to think everyone was a little happier for the interchange. That is something hats are known for, inspiring conversation, giving a place to start. A man who compliments a woman on her hat has looked been looking at the woman's face and head. His eyes have stopped there; properly so. I sometimes wonder what women are trying to do when they make their shoes the focal point of their outfits!

I hope seeing the pictures of the hats from start to finish and fulfilling their purpose will inspire you to don a hat as well, and bloom in new ways as the essay "Go Bloom" by A. Rose suggests:

The Philosophy

Women have been hiding out for a long time, even dressing to hide as if to say, don't notice me, let me blend. We have developed the ability of blending into our surroundings and being unnoticed. This was a powerful gift at the time. This ability has allowed us to observe and gain the ability to know what would happen next. It has also allowed us to feel safe. Blending has taught us the art of oneness. Women understand camouflage.
But new times require new strategies. It is time to drop our camouflage and take on our power as women. Anais Nin said, “There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”.
When you wear a hat it is like medicine for the soul. The hat is the expression of who we are as women in every moment! The hat is your dreams of who you can be. It facilitates the different parts of who you are. With the wave a the hat, viola, you are mysterious, no you are sexy, now proper and now playful.
You cannot hide in a hat. You will be noticed-especially by men. To men you become a lady when you don a hat. One which they rush to open doors for. To women you become an inspiration, reminding them that they have a closet full of hats that they have not had the courage to wear.
When you wear a hat you now become the dream that started when the hat was conceived. The original energy that was put into the hat does not die, it only changes forms and owners. The dream doesn't die, it is passed on, sometimes from generation to generation. And when you see a woman in a hat in the next car on the freeway the dream grows and we as woman acknowledge each others growth. It is the symbol of the feminine which is so needed for us to share such a vision. For I tell you, thus is how you will “GO AHEAD AND BLOOM”

A.rOSE

Millinery: Couldn't have said it better myself...

The Aristasia Knowledge Base posted a vintage article about hat wearing and hat collecting that says it all...so I didn't have to!

Oh my, how right the article is...there is such joy in a psychological make over via a visit to the millinery shop.

It is no wonder that there are so many troubled women in the world today; there simply needs to be more millinery shops around and all would once again be well amongst womankind.

Think about it. Doesn't "Gee, you look swell! What a beautiful hat" sound a lot nicer than "You seem to be depressed/obsessive/angry/hostile/anxiety ridden?"

Why yes it does.
It certainly does.

Here's a bonus tip for hat owners: Create collages of hat trims to co-ordinate with your frocks and outfits from silk flowers, ribbons, pins, feathers, lace, buttons and anything else that is too slow to make an escape.

The picture at the top of the post is an example of a collage that a friend and I created awhile ago. The blue hat at the top of the side bar has a collage as well.

Do not stitch the collage directly to the hat.
Instead, stitch everything to a bit of scrim or a bit of felt or stiff interfacing. Use enough stitches to stablize the design. Trim the scrim so the edges don't show, then you can easily either pin the collage piece to the hat, (as I have done with the side bar blue hat) or stitch it to the hat with just a couple of quick stitches. This looks much neater inside an unlined hat.

When you want to wear the hat with an outfit with a different color scheme, it is a snap to simply remover the collage, and replace it with another creation and head out the door.

Millinery: Inspiration

I love this hat!

(Must make this hat...)

Don't know where I would wear this hat.

I'll figure that out later.

After I figure out where I am going to get three strands of pearls for my neck.

I already have the pearl earrings.

What I really need is a place to where to wear this hat.

Any suggestions?

Where would you wear this hat?

Happy Hat Day!

In case you are wondering, every day is hat day around here.

(giggle)

You should have known that!

Speaking of L.G....

There is a Lo*ise Green hat on ebay on ebay right now (a couple actually.)
Starting bid on the one in the picture is $9.99.
No one has bid yet...could be a real steal!
It has the patented head sizing band, so it will fit everyone's head size.
I'd bid, but I already have two white hats in this look.
Check it out here, to see more pictures and to place a bid.

(About the *...just to keep it a secret from blog searchers!)
Let me know if you bid and win!

Millinery: Five Hats in One Day: Brown

*There is an update on this post at the end...

Waaayyyyy last summer I sent away for this peculiar looking hat block from Hatshapers.

It is actually a block shape used to create the hats in a famous movie that featured a girls school, where all the girls wore this shape hat in light blue. Does anyone out there recognize the hat shape and can name the movie? (*Hint: The movie has a sequel out.)

While the Hatshapers website states emphatically that their product can not successfully be used to block felt or straw, I beg to differ.
It just takes a little ingenuity, instead of push pins, to get the hood to stay stretched on the block.

I'm sure by now everyone reading this blog understands these are the hoods that I used on the day I blocked five hats at once.
This is how the brown one turned out.

The secret to using this block was self clinging tape. It is a plastic tape that when stretched, clings to itself without any adhesive. I used it to hold the straw to the block and also to hold the concave curves in the back tight. I just folded the edge under, and I did need to to make a secondary fold between the crown and the brim.

Here's the finished hat...with the back brim up as in the movie. I had forgotten about that part until I went to post this! I had to go grab the hat, steam a bit, and shoot another picture.
Maybe you will like it better the way it was before:

The secondary fold was actually rather nice and sculptural; I wouldn't have minded just leaving it, but I wanted to use some vintage veiling that I got awhile ago. The veiling has shiny gold pallets, and the veiling has tiny six sided honey comb-like openings.

The dragonfly is one of my favorite creatures. I sometimes think I like them even better than butterflies during the summer months. There are lots of them by our lake right now, and they seem to enjoy zooming along beside me while I take my walks.
They come in lots of colors, and their gossamer wings always make me think of fairies. Or maybe even fire lizards, from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series.

But I also like dragonflies because they eat baby mosquito. The first hat I made with a dragonfly on it (an olive green silk teardrop shaped pill box, with cream roses and peacock swords) I named "Tribute to West Nile Virus" because of the dragonfly's work in containing the mosquito population that spreads the WNV.

Let me know what you think: back down, like this, or back up like in the first shot
Since the netting is tacked down, it won't be used as mosquito netting. That would have made for an interesting option though.

I had to make three small pleats in the straw to take up the fullness under the peak. I think it wound up being a nice decorative design element.

But if this mosquito season doesn't get better, I may be tempted to take out those tacks!

May hats and dragonflies happily surround you this summer!

*Update: My fellow librarian Olia looked up the Beauxbaton girl's school offical hat. The girls wore the hat with the peak going sideways like in this image:
I'll be posting pictures of myself in all five hats...and promise to wear this hat the proper way!

Millinery: WIP

I've noticed on a lot of blogs there is much talk about WIPs...that is, Works in Progress.

Last night Bernie caught me mid-WIP.

He likes to play with lighting, and never tells me when he is going to click the shutter.

Just me, as he sees me, scowling in concentration as I work.
I'm so glad he loves me just the way I am.

Oh Louise Green, sigh.....

Kate in Switzerland posted a Youtube video of one of our most favorite milliners, Louise Green (sigh....)

Louise Green's website can be accessed here. Click on the picture of the girl with the hat to see the rests of the collection.

The video is here.

It's about eight minutes long. Too short!
Love the music too.
And want ALL the hats.

Louise, you TOTALLY rock!

Millinery outbreaks around the globe

I think something is going on...Kate in Switzerland and Cristina in Spain have both posted some FABULOUS new millinery creations.
This is good. This is VERY good.

Catch Kate's work here and Cristina's work here.
Kate recruited two young girls into millinery madness with a hat making party and Cristian gave some excellent tips on felt hat making.
Just click on their titles on their blogs and you can scroll to see those posts.

More good news: Including yours truly, there were four ladies in hats at church this morning.
I slid into the pew right next to a lady wearing an amazing Panama straw with black edging threaded through brass eyelets. The other two ladies were wearing brown straws with mid sized brims.
I was in my new grey number...take a look at the photo shoot below. (The silk sweater was belted with one of the long lace pieces from Switzerland. LOVE that!)

I'm also branching out on the Picasa picture editing tools. The black and white, sepia, and film grain tools are really fun. Big secret...if you don't like how you look in a picture, just switch over to sepia or black and white. Suddenly old and wrinkled looks arty cool.
Cheaper than plastic surgery!